November 1, 2008

STORM LAKE , IOWA . . . With six runners each in the top-15, the Luther College men and Wartburg College women ran to team titles at the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Cross Country Championships at Lake Creek Country Club near Storm Lake Saturday. Loras senior Mary Bridget Corken and Wartburg senior Brian Chenoweth took home individual titles in 20:25.72 and 24:06.51, respectively, and earned Conference Most Valuable Runner honors.

The Luther men outdistanced runner-up Loras College (48-59) to capture their third straight title and 30th men’s title overall. Coe College posted their best-ever finish at the IIAC Championship with a third-place total of 67 points followed by Simpson in fourth with 81 points.

The Wartburg women placed five in the top-8 for 28 points to finish ahead of defending champion Luther (49 points) and earn their 10th title and first since 2005. Loras College finished third with 90 points followed by Central College with 109 points.

Individually, Chenoweth, who finished second and third the past two years, won the 50th anniversary running of the me's race by seven seconds over Luther senior David McKay. Loras junior John Fry (24:17.14) took third followed by Coe senior Brad O'Neil (24:34.46) and Simpson senior Eric Osterhaus (24.36.77) in fourth and fifth. Chenoweth and McKay each earned All-Conference honors for the third time, while O'Neil, Osterhaus, and Luther's Erik Johnson (9th, 24:55.5) picked up All-IIAC honors for the second time.

Corken, who placed 11th and fourth the past two years, won the 6,000-meter women's race by 10 seconds over Wartburg junior Anna Kraayenbrink (20:35.89). Two-time defending champion and four-time All-Conference runner Janet Dobyns, took third (20:59.94), while Cornell's Rachelle Hawkins (21:15.38) and Wartburg's Emily VanOosbree (21:18.84) rounded out the top-five. Dobyns is the 14th runner in Iowa Conference women's cross country history to earn All-Conference honors in each of her four seasons. Corken, Hawkins, and VanOosbree each captured all-league honors for the third time, while Wartburg's Jennifer Kuiken (6th, 21:22.18) and Amanda Kuiken (7th, 21:25.91), Luther's Flannery Cerbin (11th, 21:35.59), and Simpson's Catie Ellingson (14th, 21:39. 26) earned honors for the second time.

Coaches of the Year: Luther men's coach Steve Pasche was named Iowa Confernece Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the third consecutive year after guiding the Norse to a third straight title, while Wartburg women's coach Steve Johnson was honored for the 10th time.

Complete results from the 2008 IIAC Cross Country Championships can be found here.

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